Revised July 2026.
The families come from the low agricultural lands to the north-west of the Chiltern Hills and were mainly farm labourers, straw dealers & plaiters. This area lies on the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and then southwards into Hertfordshire. For some places the border runs through places so close that the distinction can seem arbitrary; for example Edlesborough and Eaton Bray are practically continuous in spite of being in separate Counties and, therefore, in separate registration districts!
The influence of the Non-Conformist Churches were strong and some emigrated to Utah after missionaries of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (CLS) from the USA visited in the 1840's. Others moved into the towns of Dunstable and Luton for manufacturing work, first in the hat-making industry that Luton was famous for and, later, for the car, truck assembly and parts industry. This also drew workers from the north of England which is how the Gough side of the family, originally from North Wales and Yorkshire ended up in Luton and Dunstable.
Firstly it is clear the straw plaiting trade was a dominant activity for the rural families in this history and turns up regularly in the census' for 1841 before declining in the 1880's as the new town-based industries developed. A page, 'Straw Plaiting', about the industry including its history and decline, is below.
Starting with the early Meads in Edlesborough, Thomas Mead and his wife, Ann Peppiatt were married in Edlesborough on the 28th of October, 1848. In the 1851 census they were recorded as being Straw Plaiters. By the 1871 census the family seems to have moved north a couple of km to Northall where Thomas was recorded as a Straw Dealer and the family had 8 children. Later on he was recorded as a farm labourer and died in the Union Workhouse in Leighton Buzzard in 1913.
Thomas' son John Mead, after his marriage to Mary Ann Cook, (another of the local families!), is recorded as a general labourer in the 1881 census which might indicate a wide range of jobs. However by the 1891 census his occupation is described as Carrier, but does not show if he was employed or a single trader but by the 1901 census he was a carrier on his own with his son Isaac helping him out. Somewhere before the 1911 census he became a farmer and his son Benjamin worked on the farm too. At the 1921 census he famed with the help of his sons David & Ebenezer. Mary Ann died in 1893, apparently 2 months after her last child was born, and John married again, to Jane Bates and had a further 4 children. This is a pattern that one often sees in families in the 1800's where one partner dies at a young age leaving the other with a number of young children.
For this narrative the eldest son of John and the grandfather of Marilyn Mead was Joseph Mead. At the time of his marriage to Susan Sophia Bird in Edlesborough he was a Blacksmith on his own account. I have not seen if he served an apprenticeship before then. By the 1921 Census he described himself as a 'Farrier and General Smith'. At the outbreak of WW2 in the 1939 Register he was described as a 'Retired Smallholder'.
Another of Thomas Meads sons, Amos, turns out to have a descendant with a rather sad, then successful life in Canada; see below.
Looking at the ancestors of Charley Mead you can see that there are a number of family names from this area; some examples are above, and the cross connections are confusing and tangled. One family bucks this theme and that is the Vaisey family. Note that this family name can be spelt a number of ways; both Vasey and Veasey are also used. The first Vaisey we have so far is John Vaisey of Cloford, Somerset. Cloford is a tiny place but associated with a large quarry for limestone, used mainly for aggregate but also cement and some dressed stone. The quarry is still in operation but it is also a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' because of its geology from the Carboniferous, Triassic and Jurassic times. Some Vaiseys worked in the quarries.
However the first Vaisey connected to Edlesborough was Henry Vasey (as spelt on the 1851 census), He was born and baptized in Cloford in June 1793 but by November 1821 he married Sophia Hinde in Hockliffe, Bedfordshire! As far as I know he is the only member of his family to leave Somerset. Hockliffe is 150km from Cloford as the crow flies, so why?
Before 1829 Henry and Sophia were in Edlesborough and in the 1841 census are recorded as grocers. They had five children, all born in Edlesborough. The eldest, Elizabeth, married George Bird, The eldest son, Joseph, married Ruth Janes and Susannah married George Pither. Descendants of all three have descendants who have DNA matches to the family.
Three of the families that moved to the USA as a result of the activities of the CLS are discussed in the 'The Treks to Utah' page below.